Sunday, April 21, 2013

Diving Musandam with Nomad Ocean Adventure: Got started on a Scuba Review for Robin Fortin

April 19-20, 2013

My logged dives #1188-1191

Bobbi and I met at home on Thursday
after work, me having just driven an hour and a half from Al Ain, but
arriving home in time to get packed before Bobbi got there, and we
were on the road by 5 pm. Traffic was worse than usual, half a dozen
smashups causing delays, till finally we turned up at the border
where Chris met us at 8:00 pm with our passes, and by 9 we were
relaxing over a delicious meal and pleasant company, Fizzy's parents
were there from Malaysia, and heading for bed as early as possible so
as to be up at 6 when Robin and Jay were due to arrive for Robin's
refresher course.

When Robin appeared next morning we
discussed how to approach the full refresher. There are 20 skills to
be done in the pool, and we figured we could get in ten of them
before reporting to the port for diving that morning. All the
refresher skills are to be done in confined water; o/w is optional in
the PADI “Scuba Tuneup.” So we went over the quiz which was an
appropriate way to check knowledge of concepts and start discussions
over any points not quite clear, and then we went in the pool to play
with weighting, reg recovery, mask removal and replacement, and
alternate air source breathing. Robin got through all of this bravely
and seemed much more confident than previously on doing her first
dive of the day.

Checking and double-checking the
weather caused us to not head for port until 10 pm. Skies were
overcast, the wind had been knocking chairs over all night, and it
was trying to rain. But eventually we set out. On the trip, the wind
was blowing hot and dry and we caught a little spray as we rounded
Lima headland. We had chosen the south bay at Ras Morovi for the
easiest possible protected entry. While we were kitting up some
fishermen came along and yelled at us to stay out of the bay as they
were setting up nets across it. We complied and started our dive
right at the batfish cave with its two crayfish reliably in the
crevices in the back of the cave. We continued along the reef as it
went south out to sea but I had us cross at the saddle to come up in
the cabbage coral heading north into the channel on the other side.
Vis was disappointing but I made out an unmistakable cowtail poking
above the sand and managed to arrive on the spot just as the ray that
owned it decided to make a fast getaway. I saw him ripple and
depart, but the others in our group saw only his dusty smokescreen.
We found a number of moray eels, and as we often do in the cabbage
coral area, a turtle high on the reef. Current was benign so we were
able to turn west into the north bay. I looked for nudibranchs in
the notch that's fallen out of the wall as if it had been quarried. In the coral shallows Bobbi found a large honeycomb moray and nearby two little grey eels poking their heads out, making a pleasant end to an hour-long dive.

After an hour lunch break at the
surface, we swung by Lima Rock, but it was pretty churned up on the
south side, so we motored over to Ras Sanut, north side of the point.
There were some unusual organisms in the water floating in batches we
thought were brown algae, but turned out in fact to be little
straw-shaped creatures clustered like upright toothpicks with
something protoplasmic on one end. They looked like needles trying
to form haystacks.

Vis was poor and Bobbi and I can't
recall seeing much of note on the first part of that dive. There were
a lot of big fish getting cleaned by wrasse and I made a mental note
to point these out to Jay and Robin for the next day. At the end of
the reef we encountered strong backwash as we entered a bay so we had
to fin against it to get around a point in the reef and rise to a
higher level but now in the direction of the current. I found a
narrow but appealing valley with clear vis and headed down it, coming
at the bottom to an alcove with a crayfish inside, illuminated in my
torch. I turned to show the others but only Bobbi was with me.
Above, near the surface, I saw Robin heading away and up the reef. I
figured if she was there then Jay must be with her, and later we
found that Jay had spotted a turtle and called Robin up to see it.
By going shallow, I knew they would end up on the surface, in a safe
spot, so Bobbi and I continued our dive at 10-12 meters, coming up
with about an hour on our dive computers.

Robin was feeling good enough about her
diving that she decided she didn't need to continue the refresher
skills, so we sat by the pool and enjoyed the sundown till Robin and
Jay went back to their hotel in UAE. That evening, Fizzy's parents
made Malaysian food, chicken rendang, delicious, and Bobbi and I got
a solid sleep till 8 a.m. When Robin and Jay came along, we headed
to the port.

Our first dive was Octopus Rock, which
was blessed on this day with benign current. I was quite happy with
my navigation. It's an easy place to get confused with all the
undersea ridge lines, and I often get lost there, but current being
almost nil helped with keeping track of where we were. We started by
circumnavigating the rock, heading through shoals of blue trigger
fish and silver jacks and trevally swarming over blue and white,
sometimes orange, soft corals, beautiful swirling panoplies of
fishes. We came upon several batfish, many enjoying the clearning
stations. When we completed the circle I suggested we head north
along the ridge. Here we found photographers Steve and Nicolas
poking along following close to the sand but I turned us around when
they were heading past 18 meters. They kept going deeper and found a
half dozen playful squids. We came up along the ridge, but I popped
down to 19 to look under an arch I thought could shelter interesting
animals. There was nothing there and I hadn't intended for others to
follow, but Jay came down and spotted a moray. We showed Robin and
then moved up the west side of the ridge trying to reduce depth
because Robin was lightest on air with less than 100 bar. This is
where it gets tricky. I knew that ridge would not reach the surface
and might not even get up to 5 meters, so would not be a good place
for a safety stop; in fact the only rock that pops above water there
is Octopus Rock, but it's tricky to find. Since the current was not
a confounding variable I could easily guestimate that Octopus Rock
should be east of where we were so I guided Robin that way hi off the
sand keeping us at 10 meters or so and was rewarded by looming shapes
that could have been Octopus Rock or possibly the next ridge over,
always hard to tell here. But my guestimate was right (so rare to be
here without current) and we ended up right on the rock. I headed
around a bare wall part of it and rounded the corner to the south
into a current which I picked my way into by using my reef hook. Here
the water was clear and the fish life delightful. Robin and Jay
followed but continued a little past where Bobbi and I stopped at 7
meters, the better to view the fishlife. Jay was timing a safety
stop. He had indicated a half tank some time before and Robin was on
50 so Bobbi and I let them find their way to the surface at 45 min
dive time, not counting their safety stop. They were right on the
rock, at the same place we had entered, and the boat would fetch them
safely. Bobbi and I each had over 100 bar and we decided to continue
diving.

We glided down into the area of green
whip coral, resisting the urge to plunge to depth, following sand and
ridge line, in a circle off the rock and back again. When we came
near the rock, I had put up my SMB and was about to follow it up when
Bobbi pointed out that right before our noses were a trio of
nudibranchs slithering over one another, having a right randy time,
waving their processes about, and never mind who was looking. We
watched for a moment and then headed up the line, arriving at the
surface with 60 min showing on my computer. The others had already
started lunch so we were eating mystery meat sandwiches and lentil
pasta and kima samosas in no time, and changing our tanks for our
last dive of the weekend.

Our last dive would be at Lima Rock.
We had an easy entry at 1:30 pm. Vis was decent near the surface
though it got cloudy as we descended. We met up with Fizzy and her
photographers and went to 20 meters to look at a torpedo ray they had
found. This was a little deep for us so I led up the coralscape and
found a cave at 16 meters in which there was hiding a flat black ray.
He was facing toward the wall and couldn't elude the divers who were
soon gathered round him. As I headed away from the cave I found
Steve and Nicholas coming towards us, which was odd because they were
supposed to be diving the other direction, but it was clear in
moments as the current that had been only slightly against our
progress was now more strongly preventing our heading east, so we
wheeled to the west as well, and finished out the dive at leisure in
that direction.

Robin seemed quite comfortable as we
pointed out the animals we passed. There were two giant honeycombed
morays, a turtle, and dozens of batfish at cleaning stations letting
the wrasse do whatever they wanted to them, and obviously enjoying
it, letting them disappear into their mouths, holding themselves with
faces pointed up, opening and closing mouths in pleasure, a sight to
behold. This area is peppered with fish swim-throughs that look like
caves but show light at another entrance, all crenelated with
mollusks and batfish and parrot fish and blue angel fish lurking
within, and in one: a crayfish living frankly, a boring life. I don't
envy the crayfish, having evolved all that body armour and feelers to
protect what is to everyone but them a tasty tail.

Jay and Robin surfaced before we did
and we came up with almost an hour on our computers including the
safety stop. My computer registered deco time remaining in more than
three digits, so all safe and sound, pack our bags, and motor back to
Dibba port.